MIT Sloan Fellows Program in Innovation and Global Leadership

It all starts here.

Innovation, high technology, and biotechnology. Startups, global enterprises, and venture capitalists. The Cambridge–Boston area is legendary for its infrastructure of invention. Thomas Edison applied for his first patent here. Alexander Graham Bell developed the telephone here. The first computers, the Internet, and, fittingly enough, the term “computer bug” all started here.

In the 21st century, that heritage of innovation is transforming the future. Cambridge is an international center for the biotech industry, thanks to the dense population of research universities and the presence of such landmark companies as Genzyme, Merck, Pfizer, Biogen, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, and more than 100 other biotech firms surrounding MIT. Global powerhouses like Novartis, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, and Mitsubishi have located facilities in Kendall Square because of the fertile climate of invention. A roster of new and established firms is drawn to the area every year.

Celebrate culture, nature, sports, and the arts.

Many fellows consider the program’s location in metropolitan Boston to be one of its major plusses. The city is one of the nation’s premier centers for arts and culture, with world-renowned music ensembles like the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Handel and Haydn Society, as well as scores of museums like the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Science, the Children’s Museum, and the Institute’s own MIT Museum.

You will also find rich and varied opportunities for outdoor recreation. Boston looks out to sea, and fine urban beaches are just a short subway ride away. You can sail and row, bicycle and ski, play tennis and hang-glide, all close to home. Further afield, dramatic coastline stretches along the north and south shores of Massachusetts, from Truro to Gloucester. North and west, the mountains offer exquisite scenery and recreation activities during all four seasons. New England’s storied autumn color attracts thousands of “leaf peepers” every year.

Boston is also one of the nation’s great sports towns, with legendary football, baseball, basketball, and hockey teams. And its relatively young soccer club, the New England Revolution, is fast building a loyal following.

Questions about sponsorship?

Adriane Michelle Brown SF ’91

United States

President and COO
Intellectual Ventures

“Sitting down with leaders at MIT and
around the world, seeing how they were able to change the path of their companies,
seeing the power of the ‘Sloan Fellows effect’ on their careers and their businesses…such
high-level conversations transformed my perspective of my own possibilities, just
as other elements of the program transformed my ability to fulfill those possibilities.
Recently I flew back to MIT to address the fellows as part of this very same seminar
program. My goal was to inspire them, as I had once been inspired, to envision themselves
at the top.”

Amy Gowder SF ’10

United States

Reaching across MIT

“I strategized with the world’s top aeronautics scientists, explored pivotal technological
innovations at the MIT Media Lab, learned from leading security experts in political
science–even tapped the latest thinking on defense policy at Harvard’s JFK School
of Government. If it was essential to me as a leader, I could reach across the MIT
universe and get it.”

Exploring and reflecting

“Immersion in the MIT Sloan Fellows environment is not just about rigorous academics.
It’s about the accelerated learning you experience by being at MIT full time: the
dozens of thought leaders who visit campus each week, the spontaneous brainstorming
sessions over coffee, and the exploration and reflection you never have room for
in your normal routine.”

Developing perspective

“Working so intensely with classmates from around the world day in and day out meant
that, by year’s end, their experiences became my experiences. Today, as I leave
the program, my perspective encompasses a wide swath of countries, cultures, and
industries. I could not have developed that expanded view any other way.”

Amy Gowder started her career at Accenture, where she rose steadily through
the management ranks. She was a thriving supply chain consultant when Lockheed Martin
offered her even more challenging career opportunities. After only nine months at
the company, Gowder became one of its youngest directors. Lockheed Martin
Aeronautics President Ralph Heath urged her to enter the MIT Sloan Fellows Program
to continue her strong career trajectory.

Barbara J. Corning-DavisMOT '01

United States

Bringing more to the table

“A management program at MIT Sloan was a strategic choice for me. An MBA from MIT
underlined my technical credentials while giving me skills that are complementary—rather
than redundant—to the strengths of the other executives sitting around a boardroom
table. I find I bring a richer base of knowledge and a broader perspective to problem-solving
efforts.”

Change through collaboration

“I have been working with local civic and medical leaders in Guatemala, El Salvador,
and Qatar on developing sustainable healthcare models. Key to success is building
strong multicultural relationships, a skill I developed in one of the most collaborative
cultures on earth—MIT. I learned that if you don’t have robust relationships in
place, change isn’t sustainable. After spending a year at MIT, the ability to build
teams—and consensus—is second nature to me.”

Growing a family

“Family is so important to us that my husband and I once took a year off and lived
at sea with our two children on a 32-ft sloop. So when I was considering a year
at MIT, the kids figured heavily into the decision. They were middle school age
then and found Cambridge, MIT, and the children of my program peers fascinating
and inspiring. My daughter very much responded to the rich intellectual and multicultural
environment and is now at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin. Her plan is to
get involved with Doctors without Borders. My son, after a summer robotics program
at MIT, is making his career in electronic game design. That year very much shaped
who we all are today.”

Barbara Corning-Davis is redefining models for patient-centered care in physicians’
offices and hospitals in first- and third-world countries around the globe. Director
of Operational Improvement for a Boston-area medical center, she is also president
of SHUR, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing critical health technology to underserved
regions of the world. Corning-Davis says her MIT experience has been a crucial resource.
Her thesis, which centered on introducing innovative technologies into the healthcare
realm, has shaped her career. And the MIT Sloan network she built during her year
at MIT has provided crucial contacts, from Guatemala to Qatar.

Bruce DewarMOT '92

Canada

CEO
LIFT Philanthropy Partners

Leveraging the year at MIT

“Every day I find myself tapping into skills I learned during that intense year
at MIT. How to communicate and build strong partnerships, for example. How to guide
the evolution of organizations. How to drive change. These capabilities are now
in my DNA and have been crucial to realizing my vision—and in helping me help others
to realize theirs.”

Evaluating technology trends

“I was self-sponsored, so going to business school was a major investment. I decided
on MIT because a business school set within an engineering school could give me
a much more informed perspective on new technologies. I knew that having the skills
to understand technology trends would be of enormous value going forward—and it
has been.”

Generating ideas and connections

“One year immersed in an idea-generating environment with some of the best minds
in the world is an extraordinary opportunity. The faculty, of course, taught me
so much, but I learned just as much from my peers in the program. Working closely
with these inspiring, highly accomplished people day in and day out, I picked up
valuable knowledge across an astonishingly wide spectrum of the global marketplace.”

As CEO of 2010 Legacies Now, Bruce Dewar, MOT ’92, proved that regions hosting the
Olympics and Paralympics could leverage those events as catalysts for creating broad,
sustainable community benefits like athletics programs, arts initiatives, even healthcare
and literacy programs. Now, in the wake of the 2010 Winter Games, Dewar has evolved
2010 Legacies Now into a still more advanced community-service model with a new
enterprise called LIFT Philanthropy Partners. LIFT uses venture philanthropy to
support not-for-profits, with a combination of skills, expertise, resources, and
funding so that they grow into sustainable and highly impactful organizations. He
says his time at MOT gave him the multifaceted skills and capabilities necessary
to make this demanding model work.

Bruce S. GordonSF ’88

United States

Former President and CEO
NAACP

Bruce S. Gordon is that rare hybrid, a social visionary and an astute businessman.
After 35 years rising through the ranks of Bell of Pennsylvania, Bell Atlantic,
and Verizon, he retired at 56. In his final position, he led the company’s largest
division, retail markets, which served 33 million residential and small business
customers. He also directed corporate advertising and brand management and brought
in $25 billion in annual revenue. After his retirement, Gordon took the helm as
president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) until stepping down in the spring of 2007.

Often lauded for outstanding leadership, Gordon was included in Fortune magazine’s
2002 roster of “The 50 Most Powerful Black Executives.” Black Enterprise magazine
named him “Executive of the Year” in 1998. “I'm definitely a believer,” he says,
“that leadership technique has an immeasurable impact on a business.”

Gordon believes his experience in the MIT Sloan Fellows Program was critical to
making him the leader he is today. “Executives from 17 countries were represented,
very accomplished business people from a wide spectrum of business, industry, government,
and military organizations,” he says. “Even if working with that diverse group of
people was the sum total of the Sloan Fellows experience, I would have walked away
a winner, but there was so much more – the faculty, the curriculum, the learning
experience, the trip to the Far East. The experience was remarkable.”

David McBagonluri-NuuriSF ’11

UNITED STATES

Worldwide Director
Hypodermic Injection Systems

Strategizing with experts

“I wanted the high-level access to MIT faculty that comes with being a Sloan Fellow–to
be able to talk over problems with Nobel Laureates in physics and economics, with
innovators and ground-shakers. I have seen the remarkable power of MIT Sloan thinkers,
and I wanted to learn from them and grow to be one myself.”

Mapping for expansion

“My company is eager to reach out into the world and become a great enterprise.
I see this year of immersion as the nourishment of that aim. When I was deciding
whether to apply, I mapped all our goals and gaps to the opportunities offered in
the program and achieved a one-to-one match. I couldn’t afford not to come.”

Discovering depth

“The Sloan Fellows are so legendary, I wondered if there was an element of myth.
But during orientation, I realized the elite caliber of the fellows is real…the
depth of accomplishment, the breadth of diversity, the global network, the bonding
and collaboration–all greater than I could have imagined.”

As David McBagonluri-Nuuri was helping to revolutionize Siemens’ manufacturing technology,
he developed nearly 30 patent applications, rose to director of R&D and IT,
and received the Black Engineer of the Year–Most Promising Scientist award. Wooed
by Becton Dickinson in 2008, McBagonluri-Nuuri agreed to take charge of the global
hypodermic injection systems division when the company endorsed his plan to attend
the MIT Sloan Fellows Program.

David P. Hess SF ’90

United States

President
Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies Company

“The MIT Sloan Fellows Program didn’t
just change the way I think about business. It changed the way I think. If ever
there were a brain trust for engineering and innovation, it’s MIT. As a fellow,
I had access to that incredible depth of technical expertise and cutting-edge research.
And the reward of focusing without distraction on ideas, learning, discovery, and
growth was incalculable. When I returned to UTC, I found I had a new confidence
born of spending a year measuring myself against some of the best minds in the world.
I also found myself asking questions that wouldn’t have even occurred to me before
the program. The MIT Sloan Fellows Program was a mind-expanding coming-of- age experience,
and it prepared me to take the next big step in my career.”

Heads global operations in the design,
manufacture, and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems, and industrial
power systems.

Francis YeohMOT ’93

Singapore

CEO
National Research Foundation

Developing visions

“MIT is an intellectually invigorating, high-energy environment. You are surrounded
by people who are pushing themselves to realize their dreams. Accomplishment is
not about status at MIT. It’s about making something important happen—something
that makes a difference in the world. I found that spirit infectious. In fact, it
influenced the course of my career.”

Expanding perspectives

“During my time at MIT, I came to realize that I had a very ‘Singaporean perspective,’
and that if I were to discuss an issue with colleagues back in Singapore, they would
share that perspective. My program peers from Brazil, Japan, and other cultures,
however, would share very different ideas on the same issue. It was incredibly illuminating.
Now, if I want an alternate perspective, I have a global network I can turn to for
advice.”

Integrating value

“MIT looks at technology holistically. The value of integrating management strategy,
marketing, technical issues, and other factors is an approach that has proven successful
again and again worldwide. And it’s a perspective that has been extremely valuable
to me as I help bring innovations to market in my work at the NRF.”

Francis Yeoh is an innovator’s innovator. An engineer with a PhD in telecommunications,
Yeoh has been immersed in high tech entrepreneurship for most of his career. He
was CEO of an internet services company, headed an R&D organization that spun
out a bevy of start-up ventures, even set up Singapore’s first Internet service
provider. Now, as CEO of Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF), Yeoh is
driving research, innovation, and enterprise using a holistic, highly collaborative
model inspired by his time at MIT.

As head of the NRF, he connects inventors with investors and subject experts to
develop multipronged commercialization strategies that increase the odds of entrepreneurial
success. And through the pioneering initiative CREATE—Campus for Research Excellence
and Technological Enterprise—he is bringing together many of the world’s top research
institutions (including MIT) under one roof to pool knowledge and solve some of
the most intractable problems of our age.

Iris BombelynSF ’09

United States

Vice President and Program Manager
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company

“With 25 years of aerospace experience
behind me–integrating and building satellites and working on international launch
teams–I had plenty of technical expertise when I started the MIT Sloan Fellows Program.
But to advance to the highest levels of leadership, I needed to boost other fundamentals,
like finance, strategic planning, and organizational dynamics. I left the program
with those core skills, deep insights into innovation and technology strategy, and
a tight-knit global network of classmates in almost every industry. When you get
to a certain point in your career, there are a limited number of people you can
safely consult when sticky issues arise. Now, if I come up against a challenge in
any aspect of my work, I can call upon a team of experts in 26 countries, who also
just happen to be close friends.”

James C. FosterSF ’85

United States

Chairman & CEO
Charles River Laboratories

When Forbes magazine named James C. Foster “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2002, the
Chairman and CEO of Charles River Laboratories had transformed his 56-year-old family
business into one of the world’s leading biotech companies. And he did it by taking
back control of the company from a multinational corporation.

Although he had a law degree, Foster knew if he was going to grow Charles River
Laboratories into a biotechnology giant, he needed a strong management foundation.
Not wanting a traditional MBA degree, Foster never even considered other schools
or programs. He knew what the MIT Sloan Fellows Program had to offer and headed
straight for it.

Foster says that the program prepared him for the gauntlet of professional challenges
that culminated in his 2002 award. “The MIT Sloan Fellows Program is not just an
education, it’s a life-altering experience,” he says. The powerful relationships
forged with faculty and fellow students, the CEO seminars, and the trips to New
York City, Washington, and beyond made the program an experience that he says was
perfect for him at that juncture in his career. Charles River Laboratories now employs
8,000 people at 70 facilities in 18 countries.

MIT Sloan taught Foster that to be successful in running a business, you have to
take balanced risks and create an environment in which people are given incentives
to be risk-takers. “You want to be constantly soliciting people’s input,” he explains,
“to say, ‘What do you think?’ and ‘Why don't you go out and try that?’ And if it
doesn't work, you have to be able to say, ‘Thanks for trying.’ ”

Keiji TachikawaSF ’78

Japan

President
JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Keiji Tachikawa was actually disappointed when placed in charge of NTT DoCoMo, the
mobile telephone unit of the Japanese telecom giant Nippon Telephone and Telegraph.
He’d had his eye on what he considered a more coveted job leading NTT East, the
company's local phone service unit.

That disappointment only served to fuel Tachikawa’s vision for DoCoMo. Three years
after taking the job, he had grown the unit’s market capitalization to $225 billion
– bigger even than that of NTT itself. He also took the company global, carving
out stakes in mobile companies in Europe, Asia, and America.

Tachikawa was named CEO and, soon after, “Asian Businessman of the Year” by Fortune
magazine “for his role in one of the world’s greatest business successes of 2000.”
The honor, the magazine explained, was bestowed on the leader who proved to be “ahead
of the pack, in profits and vision. Tachikawa leads on both fronts.”

Tachikawa credits the Sloan Fellows Program with helping him shape an effective
methodology for business management and decision-making. “In addition to the basic
courses of law, economics, and accounting, and subjects such as strategic policy,
finance, and marketing, I became aware of the diversity of ideas,” he says.

If Tachikawa’s entrepreneurial triumph took the global business world by storm,
it did not surprise his classmates in the MIT Sloan Fellows class of 1978. Indeed,
it was his experience at MIT Sloan that inspired his motto for corporate management,
“Think drastically, execute steadily.” A motto he has brought with him to the Japanese
space program–JAXA–which he has headed since 2004.

Kofi Annan SF ’72

Ghana

Former Secretary-General of the United Nations
Nobel Peace Prize 2001

Kofi Annan can remember the day. It was 1971 and he was in the middle of his first
term in the MIT Sloan Fellows Program. He was walking along the Charles River, ruminating
about his place in the class, wondering how he fit into the audacious group of global
leaders who were his classmates.

When the answer came to him, Annan says, it came to him most emphatically: “Follow
your own inner compass...know who you are, what you stand for, where you want to
go, and why you want to get there.” He recalls that at once, his anxieties began
to fade.

Annan believes that as a result of that walk by the river, he took away from MIT
“the intellectual confidence to help me locate my bearings in new situations, to
view any challenge as an opportunity for renewal and growth, and to be comfortable
in seeking the help of colleagues, but not fearing to do things my way.”

MIT and the United Nations, Annan says, have more in common than might be at first
obvious. The experimental method, for example. “An international organization,”
he says, “is an experiment...an experiment in human cooperation on a planetary scale.”
He notes that “international organizations must be closely tuned to their environments,
quickly correct their mistakes, build cumulatively on their achievements, and continually
generate new modalities as previous ways of doing things become outdated.”

Although that introspective walk along the Charles River is now more than 30 years
past, Annan’s experience at MIT still informs his decisions. “As a Sloan Fellow,
I learned management skills that I could draw on in refashioning the United Nations
for the new century.”

Marcelo BallestieroSF ’10

Brazil

Founder/CEO
Spirits Tecnologia

Meeting global leaders

“During our international trip to South Africa and Brazil, I was struck by an incredible
sense of momentum. The nations we visited were very different yet equally committed
to sustainable fast-track development. The government and company leaders we met
gave us tremendous insight into the possibilities for responsible entrepreneurship.”

Collaborating with innovators

“I’m preparing to start a multinational company focused on data analytics. The best
thinkers in business, entrepreneurship, and IT are all right here. The one-on-one
interactions with faculty and global leaders are unlike any other educational experience.
And your fellow students are the best of the best. I remember looking across the
classroom and thinking:just the dozen of us in this room could change the world.”

Sharing with family

“My family considered it ‘our’ Sloan Fellows year. My wife, who is also an entrepreneur,
was able to work remotely from Cambridge. My children became fluent in English,
played soccer, and took classes through MIT’s fantastic SPLASH program. They loved
the idea of studying at MIT, just like Dad.”

Marcelo Ballestiero has always been a
master of developing ideas from scratch. So when Philips Brazil spun off its automation
department, Ballestiero left the company to establish his own entrepreneurial niche.
His software company Spirits Tecnologia has forged custom telecom, manufacturing,
mobile, and business intelligence solutions since 1994. Ballestiero used his year
at the MIT Sloan Fellows Program as a springboard for the launch of a new global
company.

Mikko UusitaloSF '08

FINLAND

Learning to lead

“The program is a microcosm of the corporate environment. You work closely with
people who hold very different perspectives from your own. You evolve from accepting
those differences to counting on them. You learn there’s far more power in collaboration
than in competition. And you learn not just how to lead, but when to lead.”

Transforming the dialogue

“My year as a Sloan Fellow was the best of my life. I met so many influential leaders
and saw how they integrated who they were with the fundamentals of good leadership.
When I returned to my job at HP, my dialogue with senior executives was transformed.
I was immediately making things happen in my company.”

Improving the world

“I always knew I wanted to do big things with my life. As a Sloan Fellow I gained
a deeper understanding of how the world works – economics, finance, ‘the Street’
– but I also learned about poverty, sustainability, and social issues. I gained
a clearer, more actionable vision of how to make the world a better place.”

Mikko Uusitalo credits his love of all things tech for his smooth transition from
corporate lawyer to marketing executive at HP. But as a leader of a worldwide sales
team, Uusitalo knew he needed the MIT Sloan Fellows Program experience to perform
at the highest levels of business. Energized by his year at MIT, Uusitalo is strengthening
HP’s capacity for innovation as head of global alliances for new initiatives.

Mirela Marku SF ’07

United States/Albania

Senior Engineering Manager
General Dynamics Information Technology

“It’s an engineer’s dream to go to MIT,
so when it was time to make the transition from engineering to management, I immediately
thought: Sloan. I polled executives at GD and they immediately thought: the Sloan
Fellows Program. They said it was the perfect way to develop the perspective I needed
to advance in the company, and they were right. I remember every lecture, every
trip, every assignment–and every cultural lesson. I learned from the Japanese fellows
the importance of listening. I learned from the Latin American fellows the importance
of emotion. I learned from the American fellows the importance of confidence. And
I continue learning from them.”

Pascal MarmierSF ’08

Switzerland

Consul and Director, swissnex Boston
Consulate of Switzerland

“I came to this program to think outside
the inbox. Executives have few opportunities in their lifetimes to reflect, absorb,
and put all the pieces of their lives together. The MIT Sloan Fellows Program offers
a highly valuable refueling station at the crossroads of our careers. In the program,
we figure out just where we should be headed and how to get there. All the while
we’re meeting people we could never meet and learning things we could never learn
anywhere but here. I really valued the intersections. You might find yourself in
a negotiating class with a real estate expert, a neuroscientist, and a mechanical
engineer. As a result, I know so much more about so many things. I can see the impact
this very deep knowledge and experience has had on my life and work.”

Pedro Baranda SF ’01

Spain

President
Otis Elevator Co.

"I had a PhD in engineering and was doing
well in my career, but was at a disadvantage without a solid base in finance and
economics. My plan was to go to the Sloan Fellows Program to fill those gaps. In
that amazing year, I was able to accomplish that and so much more–for example, learning
the importance of people and how to listen and collaborate. At MIT Sloan, I worked
with extraordinarily gifted people–faculty, my Sloan Fellows peers, members of the
MIT community. During program trips, I met crucial industry contacts. And my thesis
advisor was none other than Nobel Laureate Franco Modigliani, one of the greatest
economists of our time. What it all adds up to is a network that has been indispensable
as I have moved up and around the world with Otis."

Priya Iyer SF ’05

United States

CEO
Anaqua

“When I was about to begin the program,
I was worried. ‘One year?!’ It seemed an eternity to spend at that point in my career.
By graduation, I was wishing I had another nine years. Until you arrive at MIT,
you don’t realize the extent of the adventure that awaits you. As the CEO of a startup
that has grown from six to 60 people in five years, I use what I learned in that
jam-packed year every single day–technology strategy, system dynamics, product marketing,
competition, leadership. In fact, to some extent, we have modeled Anaqua on the
MIT Sloan Fellows Program itself, bringing our clients together from various countries
and industries to pool their knowledge and help one another thrive. It is an approach
that has proved as successful for Anaqua as for the program that inspired it.”

Leads Anaqua’s overall vision, strategy,
and execution, with a focus on building teams, technology, and a strong client community.

Randa Jamali CharamandSF ’08

Lebanon

Chief Operating Officer
Benchmark Development

Emerging confident

“The value of the program was extraordinary. It opened my mind, stretched my thinking,
and fueled my creativity in ways I did not think were possible. I emerged with the
confidence and ability to make a difference in my company and in the community.”

Bonding with colleagues

“I was the very last person in the class to arrive on campus. I came upon a group
of fellows deep in discussion. When they realized who I was, they immediately welcomed
me and dropped everything to help me get settled and ease my transition. That Sloan
Fellows bond is powerful – and lasts far beyond the program.”

Expanding value

“Every day, I feel the impact of my Sloan Fellows experience. I am more innovative,
more strategic, more global in my thinking. The value of the program is integral
to everything I do and everything I am. Two years have gone by, and I keep waiting
for that sensation to abate, but it doesn’t.”

Randa Jamali Charamand was finance manager
at Millennium Development when the company’s CEO, Bassim Halaby, SF ’02, joined
the MIT Sloan Fellows Program. Halaby returned transformed, and Charamand was determined
to follow in his footsteps. In 2006, she joined Halaby at Benchmark Development
and became a fellow with Halaby’s enthusiastic support. Now COO of Benchmark, Charamand
heads regional operations and $1.5 billion in projects.

Ric FulopSF ’06

Venezuela

Founder, A123Systems

“Most MBA programs are formulaic–graduating
is almost like getting your passport stamped. The MIT Sloan Fellows Program, on
the other hand, is a 360-degree experience. As a serial entrepreneur, I was able
to take courses in any area of the Institute I thought would help me to grow my
company. In those two years, I built the broad and powerful range of skills I needed,
all the while taking A123 from startup to success. I think it’s the impact that
Sloan Fellows have on their companies that best illustrates the strength of this
program.”

Founded this renowned alternative energy
startup, one of the world’s leading suppliers of high-power lithium ion batteries.

Richard ResnickMOT ’04

United States

CEO
Genome Quest

Taking ideas the distance

“Before MOT, I started a small company, and it was successful, but I felt I could
take my ideas much further. I realized there were gaps in the story I wanted to
tell about myself. I needed the pedigree and capabilities to match my vision—and
a management program that could help me develop that. It’s true. An entrepreneur
who wants to bring revolutionary technologies to market has one clear choice in
business education—MIT.”

Moving the world forward

“MIT is instrumental in moving the world forward, and my year in the MOT Program
gave me the resources to join that effort. On top of everything I took away, I can
show up on campus today and ask for whatever I need—with the confidence that that
need will be met.”

Shaping history

“At GenomeQuest, I am riding the most exciting technology development in the history
of mankind. But I am convinced that if I hadn’t taken that year out for the MOT
Program (now Sloan Fellows), I would still be a mid-level technical manager in a
biopharma company. My time at MIT gave me everything I need to go as far as I want
to go.”

Richard Resnick is a genetics pioneer, a serial entrepreneur, and a music innovator,
but a more accurate characterization might be high-tech explorer. Resnick has planted
so many flags on so many tech mountain peaks, it’s dizzying. Today, he’s channeling
everything he’s learned in those many pursuits into his role as CEO of GenomeQuest.

The possibilities inherent in the study of the human genome first became clear to
Resnick right out of college when he worked as a computer scientist on Eric Lander’s
Human Genome Project at MIT. Now, he is at the front lines of the business of genomes,
helping to advance the use of the genome as a universal and affordable diagnostic
tool. And he is drawing on his MIT education—and network—to move forward on that
frontier.

Ron WilliamsSF '84

UNITED STATES

CEO and Chairman
Aetna

Ron Williams has his head in the clouds, and that’s exactly where he intends to
keep it. “One of the basic principles of successful leadership is to keep your head
in the clouds and your feet on the ground. You have to start with a large-scale,
long-range vision and then operationalize strategies that deliver real value to
stakeholders.”

As President of Aetna, Williams stands as powerful proof of his theory. He oversees
the bulk of Aetna’s $25 billion business and has been named one of the “50 Most
Powerful Black Executives” by Fortune magazine. He credits the MIT Sloan Fellows
Program as a major force in shaping his ideas about leadership.

“I went to Sloan to turn myself into a generalist with a wider view of business.
I wasn’t alone. At the start of the program, all the participants tended to define
a problem in terms of their specialty. By the end of the program, we’d moved beyond
our respective functional disciplines and learned to match the right discipline,
or combination of disciplines, to the problem at hand.”

Williams looks back on this collaborative experience as a fundamental step in his
evolution as an executive. “Working with a world-class faculty and high-performing
classmates, I was able to take everything I knew about business and raise it to
the next level.”

Sarah Kennedy SF ’11

New Zealand

CEO
Vitaco Health Ltd.

Embracing adventure

“MIT is on the crest of the world, and I feel like a kid on a skateboard with my
hat on backwards ready to take off. I’m in this adventure for the thrills and for
the chance to stretch, discover, and expand.”

Harvesting the ecosystem

“In New Zealand, we are great innovators, but we are not commercializing or exporting
nearly enough. As a CEO and a passionate New Zealander, I need to fix that. Just
a couple of weeks in, I’m already building a powerful global network and tapping
into MIT’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. This is exactly where I need to be right now.”

Building community

“The Sloan Fellows Program is a strong, inclusive family. When my husband saw how
enthusiastic the partners are about the program and how close-knit the community
is, he decided to make more time to visit from New Zealand so he can take part.”

In 1998, veterinary surgeon turned retail
marketing executive Sarah Kennedy took the helm of Healtheries, a modest New Zealand
health products company. In the decade that followed, Kennedy led the cycle of growth,
acquisition, and merger that created Vitaco, the third-largest health and well-being
company in Australasia. Now, she’s partnering with New Zealand’s Foundation for
Research, Science, and Technology to increase commercialization of the country’s
R&D.

Community

I always knew I wanted to do big things with my life. As a Sloan Fellow I gained a deeper understanding of how the world works—economics, finance, ‘the Street’—but I also learned about poverty, sustainability, and social issues. I gained a clearer more actionable vision of how to make the world a better place.Mikko Uusitalo
, SF ’08
Finland
Vice President, Worldwide Alliances Sales
HP Communications and
Media Business